Sunday, May 5, 2013

Képviselőfánk - soft sponge cakes with cream filling

Dear Reader,

This week's blog post will be the last. The journalism program, which I attend, had this assignment and now, we're close to the semester's end. I have chosen something 'advanced' for you to bake. Hopefully, you will have no problems if following my instructions.

Képviselőfánk is an extremely sweet dessert and it is wonderfully soft. I hope that the picture has whet your appetite, so it's time to bake!

For the sponge-cake, you'll need:
4 oz of margarine (10 dkg margarin)
10 tablespoons of water (evőkanál víz)
4 oz of flour (10 dkg liszt)
4 eggs (tojás)

As the first step, put margarine and water in a big bowl.

On a slow fire, melt them together, until it's boiling.






Leaving it on the fire, put flour into it. Mix it with strong, fast moves, as you don't want it to burn.
Stir it really well, since it is the most important step of the baking. With careful mixing, your sponge cake will be hollow on the inside. You have to stir it, until the sponge separates from the side of the bowl.

Then, one after another, mix the eggs into the dough by mixing.

It is the nastiest part of the baking, as the eggs glutinize the dough. After the fourth egg, it has to be liquid-like.















Leave the dough rest for an hour. In the meantime, prepare the cream.

For the cream, you'll need:

3 yolks (tojássárgája)
1 tablespoon of flour (evőkanál liszt)
1 vanilla sugar (vaníliás cukor)
1,5 deciliter of milk (tej)

With an eggbeater, mix the flour and the yolks, until they get smooth. Pay attention to stir them, as long as they are free of ties. Meanwhile, pour milk into it, in small portions. Then add vanilla sugar. In eight minutes, cook it to be dense.






As long as the cream is getting cold, churn the powdered sugar and the margarine.













When you are ready, put the margarine+sugar into the cooked cream.




Grease a baking tin with margarine.








Put tiny pieces of dough on it with a teaspoon.
















Bake it for 25-30 minutes, at the temperature of 180 degrees (Celcius). When the sponges are getting bakes, do not open the door of the oven, as the doughs may get flat. Before putting them into the oven, sprinkle water between the sponges. The steam will help them to grow.


When they're ready, cut them into halves.

Then fill them with the cream.


Sprinkle them with powdered sugar on the top and they are ready for eating!





So, it's the end of my blogging career (for now). I hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to the world of Hungarian desserts. Bye and have a great summer!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Pötyi szelet — Dotty cake

Dear Reader,

I have to make a confession regarding this week's dessert. I don't really know if it's Hungarian or not. To tell you the truth, I think it doesn't belong to any nations, so let's claim it's Hungarian. This originates from my mother's printed baking-book, it is written in Hungarian — it has to be Hungarian.

This cake is a little bit different from the previous cake. Pötyi szelet needs more time and more patience than the other. Pötyi szelet's mirror translation can be Dotty cake, as there is a dot in the middle of the slice.

It's sweet, it's tasty, it's Hungarian! Bake it!

You'll need the following ingredients for one thick layer of dough:

8 tablespoons of flour (evőkanál liszt)
8 tablespoons of sugar (evőkanál cukor)
8 eggs (tojás)

Add as much cocoa powder as you wish. The aim is to get a beautiful dark color.








Mix them well and then bake it!









For the filling-cream you'll need:

1/2 liter of milk (fél liter tej)
1 vanilla puding ( cs. vaníliás puding)
1 tablespoon of flour (evőkanál liszt)
1 vanilla sugar (cs. vaníliás cukor)

Put the ingredients above in a big bowl and cook them.

Beforehand mix 9 oz of butter (25 dkg vaj) and 5 oz of powdered sugar (15 dkg porcukor). When the sugar and the butter is creamy, add the dollop into the cooked cream.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, here comes the part that makes this cake special! (I didn't wrote gentlemen by accident as I know some men who love to bake. Let me mention my beloved boyfriend who baked a cake for my birthday with his own hands! Again, darling, I love you and thank you.) Yes, the special part.

For the filling, we'll form sticks from the following ingredients:

4 oz of cookies (15 dkg keksz)
1 tablespoon of peach jam (evőkanál baracklekvár)
1/2 deciliter of rum
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder (evőkanál kakaópor)
1 packet of chestnut puree (csomag gesztenyepüré)

Mix all of them with your hands.

Now, divide the dollop into 6 equal parts. And then, take a time-travel back to kindergarten when you were playing with plasticine. Rub your hands against each other and form a stick. Repeat until you get six.

The next step is to cut your dough into two halves. Cover the first layer with half of the cream.

Next, put the sticks on the cream.

Again, put the rest of the cream on the sticks.


Put the second half of the dough on top of that.



Finish it by covering the top layer in chocolate glaze.



Finally, you can enjoy your work!



















Thursday, April 18, 2013

Zserbó, Gerbaud, zserbó


This week's dessert is zserbó. It's got his name after Gerbaud Emil who was a confectioner at Budapest and had a confectionery at his own. The patisserie still exists; so, if you visit Budapest, go to Gerbaud for a zserbó. Yes, I know I'm hilarious! But let the jokes at comedians because we have some serious cakes to bake! (Ok, I will stop.)

We'll need:
9 oz of flour (25 dkg liszt)
5 eggs (tojás)
2 oz of sugar (6 dkg cukor)
7 oz of margarine (20 dkg margarin)
1 oz of yeast (2 dkg élesztő)
1 deciliter of milk (tej)
1 sprinkle of baking soda (csipetnyi sütőpor)
a little bit of salt (egy kicsi só)





Filling:
5 oz of grained walnuts (15 dkg darált dió)
5 oz of powdered sugar (15 dkg porcukor)
7 oz of peach jam (20 dkg baracklekvár)

Run up the yeast in lukewarm milk.





Then mix the ingredients together for the dough.



Roll the first part of the dough for the first layer and put it into a baking tin.





Glaze it with peach jam, then sprinkle it with sugared grained walnuts. 





Roll the second layer and put it into the baking tin, on top of the walnuts. Repeat the glazing and sprinkling. 



Finish it with a top layer. Bake it. 



At last but not least, glaze it with chocolate.





Here is the result. Enjoy!